


Love at First Swipe

by fulldaysdrive, within_a_dream



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Audio Format: M4B, Audio Format: MP3, Audio Format: Streaming, F/F, Podfic, Podfic & Podficced Works, Podfic Length: 10-20 Minutes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-02 15:32:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11512287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fulldaysdrive/pseuds/fulldaysdrive, https://archiveofourown.org/users/within_a_dream/pseuds/within_a_dream
Summary: This is going to be Cosette's year. She's going off to college, which means she can turn over a new leaf and start dating. If that means working up the nerve to use Tinder, so be it.





	Love at First Swipe

**Author's Note:**

> The music featured in this podfic is "I Really Like You" by Carly Rae Jepsen.

  
**Download links:  
**   
[mp3](http://fulldaysdrive.parakaproductions.com/podfics/LM%20-%20Love%20at%20First%20Swipe.mp3)                                 | 9.3 MB | Running Time: 00:13:15  
[mp3  (without music)](http://fulldaysdrive.parakaproductions.com/podfics/LM%20-%20Love%20at%20First%20Swipe%20-%20no%20music.mp3)       | 8.7 MB | Running Time: 00:12:21

 [podbook](http://fulldaysdrive.parakaproductions.com/podfics/LM%20-%20Love%20at%20First%20Swipe.m4b)                          | 9.6 MB | Running Time: 00:13:15  
 [podbook (without music)](http://fulldaysdrive.parakaproductions.com/podfics/LM%20-%20Love%20at%20First%20Swipe%20-%20no%20music.m4b) | 8.8 MB | Running Time: 00:12:21  
  


* * *

This was going to be her year. Cosette was determined to make the start of college a new start for her, to wear what she wanted and to stop being nice to people who didn’t deserve it and to finally, finally get a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend, she supposed, but (and maybe this was just her sheltered upbringing speaking) the idea of college boys was a bit frightening. Besides, maybe people would finally believe she wasn’t straight if she had a girlfriend in tow. (Maybe she’d finally work up the nerve to come out to her father if she could do it under the pretext of introducing him to her girlfriend.)

That resolve broke down as soon as she set foot on campus. It was one thing to _say_ she wanted to be out to everyone, but another thing entirely to actually work up the nerve to _tell_ people. Everyone who asked seemed to assume she’d want a boyfriend, and the thought of correcting every single person she talked to seemed both too frightening and too tedious to manage. She couldn’t even manage to tell her roommate—as nice as Musichetta seemed, Cosette lost her nerve whenever she tried to bring it up. It was beginning to look like her only chance of coming out _was_ to find a girlfriend and introduce her to all her friends.

 

A few weeks into the semester, Musichetta pulled Cosette aside as she got back from dinner. “I won’t be around this weekend.” She almost sounded nervous. “My boyfriends are picking me up Friday, to spend the weekend with them.”

“I didn’t know you were dating anyone!” Of course Musichetta would have two boyfriends. They were probably lovely young men who absolutely doted on her and god, Cosette was so lonely. “Will I get to meet them?”

“I’ll have them stop by the room before we leave.”

They were indeed lovely young men. Joly was in med school, and Bossuet was finishing off a philosophy degree on his way to law school.

“How did you meet?” Cosette asked.

“Oh, it was a run of bad luck on Bossuet’s part, really,” Joly replied. “Chetta and I met on the rideshare board—her suburb is close to mine, and we both wanted to go home for spring break. On the way back to school, we passed Bossuet’s piece of shit Grand AM on the shoulder, and he flagged us down.”

“I’d just gotten it back from the shop, and I had an exam the next day,” Bossuet said. “They saved my GPA.”

“And by the time we got back to the campus, we were halfway in love,” Musichetta added.

After a few more stories of bad luck and escapades, Joly glanced at his watch and began moving his partners towards the door. “If we want to get to the apartment in time for dinner, we should head out.”

“I’ll see you on Monday!” Musichetta wrapped Cosette in a hug, and she tried not to reciprocate too awkwardly.

 

Cosette must have been a bit more obvious about her pining than she’d intended to be, because as soon as Musichetta came back to the dorm, she cornered Cosette while she was on the futon doing her chem homework.

“Do you really want a boyfriend?”

Cosette sighed. “It’s only that everyone here seems to have someone, and I don’t, and I thought going to college would be my chance to meet someone, you know?”

Musichetta slid onto the futon next to her. “I can set you up on Tinder.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that.”

“I won’t peek at your profile or anything, I promise? You might meet someone nice.”

So Cosette and Musichetta fished through Facebook for her best photos, and Cosette began to use her Tinder account. She did start off as bisexual, but college boys were difficult to deal with, and she’d gotten a bit tired of the unsolicited dick pics. Girls tended not to send you photographs of their genitalia, so girls it was.

 

There were way more left swipes than right swipes. For every girl Cosette thought looked cute, there was a “just looking for friends!” or “Bf and I are looking for a third!” or someone who’d been thrown in from two hundred miles away. And half the women she swiped right on didn’t match her, anyway. What’s more, half of the matches fizzled out after half a day of conversation (and some never even responded to Cosette’s first message).

All things considered, matching to Éponine was a miracle. She’d seemed way out of Cosette’s league—impeccable makeup, gorgeous profile pic in a crop top Cosette would never have the confidence to wear, and innuendos in her bio that made Cosette feel like way too much of an innocent to be appealing. Something about her must have been appealing, though, because as soon as Cosette got the match notification, Éponine sent off a message.

> _Biochem, huh? Pretty sweet_

_> **You wouldn’t say that if you could see my homework :P**_

**_Besides the problem sets it’s great though_ **

_> You gotta tell me some chem facts. I can pay you back in plant facts if you want_

They chatted all afternoon, and by the time Éponine had to leave for work and Cosette had to sign off and actually work on her problem sets, they’d exchanged phone numbers and Snapchat handles.

 

They passed a few more days texting and sending selfies, and every time Cosette’s phone buzzed she found herself grinning like a loon. Then, Thursday night, Éponine texted:

> _Wanna come over tomorrow? I don’t work the next morning ;)_

Cosette almost died. Sure, they’d been texting, but this meant that Éponine wasn’t just looking for the right time to blow her off. And she was _so hot_ , and Cosette’s dorky selfies hadn’t turned her off…

She started and erased an answer so many times that Éponine sent off another message before she’d worked up the nerve to accept.

> _You don’t have to if you don’t want_

> ** _No I really want to!!! You’re close to campus right?_**

After a few more texts, Cosette was officially going to spend the night at a cute girl’s apartment. As soon as Musichetta got back to the room, Cosette grabbed her.

“I have a date!”

Musichetta grinned. “See, I told you Tinder would work out. Can I see pictures?”

She was only taken aback for a moment when she saw Éponine’s photo. “Oh, Cosette, she’s cute!”

“We’re having dinner at her place tomorrow.” Cosette felt her face growing hot despite herself. “I’m planning on spending the night, but I’ll text you after dinner so you know I’m fine…”

Musichetta hugged her. “Have fun!”

 

Cosette put on the matching bra-and-underwear set she’d bought herself for her birthday senior year and shoved in the back of her dresser immediately after, and spent ages trying on every skirt in her closet before she decided on one that was just a bit too short to wear to class. The bus ride over was the most nerve-wracking trip she’d ever taken, and by the time she got off at Éponine’s street, she was nearly hyperventilating.

Éponine was waiting outside the apartment complex, and she gave a little wave when she saw Cosette. “Hey.”

“Hi!” Cosette laughed nervously. “Sorry if I’m late, the bus stopped at pretty much every stop on the way here.”

“No, you’re good! The elevator’s busted and the stairs are hard to find, so I figured I’d catch you before you got lost in the building.”

Éponine had a whole dinner waiting for them when they’d made it up the four flights of stairs to her apartment. Pasta with a ridiculously fancy tomato-basil sauce, bread, salad…

“Did you make all this?” Cosette asked, in awe.

“It’s really not that hard,” Éponine answered, toying with her hair. “I can show you how to make the sauce sometime, it’s way cheaper than store-bought.”

They ate, and they talked about Éponine’s job and Cosette’s classes and the commotion after the football game last weekend, and Cosette offered to help do the dishes. She found herself hip-to-hip with Éponine, the closeness tantalizing and nerve-wracking.

Cosette bit her lip and worked up the nerve to ask, “Um, can I kiss you?”

Éponine laughed. “Yeah! Yeah, if you want.”

“I’ve just never done anything like this before, with anyone, and so I’m not sure if I’m going to suck or not, so just let me know if I’m doing something wrong—”

Éponine pulled her in for a kiss, and wow, kissing was _great_. Cosette couldn’t even worry about doing it wrong, because Éponine running a hand up under her shirt was too distracting. It wasn’t long before they ended up on Éponine’s bed together, and Éponine started tugging her skirt off, and Cosette _really_ couldn’t worry about whether she was doing this right.

She barely remembered to text Musichetta before she went to sleep, tangled up with Éponine.

 

When Cosette woke up at around 3 am, she was no longer quite so confident that she hadn’t irrevocably fucked up. Every silly thing she’d said earlier that night ran through her head, and suddenly the thought of staying until Éponine woke up was terrifying. What would they talk about? Would she and Cosette eat breakfast, or was Cosette just supposed to leave? It would be much safer just to sneak out now. She threw her clothes on and grabbed her purse from the couch, scrambling to find it in the dark, and then slipped out the door to catch the bus.

 

She woke up the next morning to a text from Éponine.

_Hey we don’t have to meet again if you don’t want, but I have your bra_ _and it looks pretty pricey_

Only the fact that Musichetta was asleep ten feet away kept Cosette from screaming in frustration. She’d probably made a fool of herself at the date, and she couldn’t even manage to bring all her underwear home.

**_I totally get it if you don’t want to see me again, I know I’m not great at this stuff, but last night was amazing and you’re amazing and I kinda panicked but I totally want to see you again. Otherwise I can send my roommate to get the bra_ **

_You’re a dork  
Of course I want to see you again!_

Cosette spent a good portion of the morning staring at the texts and grinning. She was going to have to tell Musichetta all about this once she woke up. A real date, that she hadn’t messed up, and a maybe-kinda-sorta girlfriend! This was going to be her year.


End file.
